The Suburban Escape by Matthew Holmes

A family leaves the city for the suburbs after suffering a tragic loss.

THE SUBURBAN ESCAPE

Boston, Massachusetts, 2025

    For the past fifteen years, the Napolitano family has lived in Boston, Massachusetts, experiencing the various ups and downs of life. However, after one tragic night of loss, their time living in Boston has come to its end. It’s the fall of 2025, and they’re currently driving to southern Maine having already purchased a house in the fishing town of Pinewood Harbor that’s nestled in a suburban neighborhood secluded from the troubles of the world. This is their plan to escape the city, and they’re hopeful it’s going to work.

    A silver SUV is driving away from the city of Boston as the skyscraper skyline recedes in the distance. Daytime traffic is flowing steadily as the SUV and its occupants leave Massachusetts and into New Hampshire. After some more time on the highway, the driver, Rick sees a welcome sign and reads it out loud to his wife and son while driving their packed-up SUV over a bridge entering the new state, “Maine: The Way Life Should Be.” They have never visited or lived in Maine. The scenic fall foliage, along the highway of various leaf colors, decorate both sides of the road instead of buildings, billboards, and businesses. Maine is in the opposite direction from the bustling cities of the northeast, where the last of their extended family resides, but Rick is determined to chart their own path.

    Their previous Boston neighbors explained to them that Maine could be a place to get away from the dangers of the city that they experienced firsthand. Ella loved Boston, but city life is behind them now because of what had happened. She worked very hard on her business in the city, a vintage clothing shop, but she had to shut it down and already misses her many customers, neighbors, and friends. Job opportunities look slim in the small town they’re moving to, and working anywhere in clothing has so far come up short. On the other hand, Rick is transferring to a local bank branch in their new town for his current banking company, so they hope to be financially stable enough.

    Ella loves fashion and is currently wearing one of her favorite vintage dresses with vibrant patterns of white, grey, and red, along with flat shoes, and a boater hat on top of her long, wavy brunette hair. Despite all the moving work ahead, she wants them to look good for their new neighbors and insists they be fashionably clean. Rick had met Ella decades ago as her customer, and by connecting through their passion for clothing, they dated, fell in love, got married, and had two children.

    Rick usually overdresses for everything, so it isn’t a big deal for him to be dressed up for first impressions. He wore suits, business casual attire, and dress shoes even around the house and when going out to do anything. He’s currently wearing a pinstriped black collared shirt, gray khakis, black leather shoes, and his greyish black hair is combed back styled with hair gel. He says that he’s going for a business wealth aesthetic. Ella admires his attentive style, but her thoughts are on other things, such as their past lives and where they’re going, as she looks out the window, not fully listening to Rick talking.

    In the back seat, there’s just one person surrounded by boxes and luggage. He’s a fourteen year-old boy wearing headphones and bobbing his head up and down to the beat of a rap-rock track. His clothing is a black jacket with a stiff collar, a black undershirt, faded blue jeans, casual white sneakers, and his black hair is slicked to the side with long strands that extend to one of his eyebrows. As his father, Rick, is driving, he asks his teenage son in the backseat, “Marco, are you excited about going to your new school? The principal sounds very nice on the phone.” Ella tells her husband, “he can’t hear you. He’s listening to his music, and you know he doesn’t like to be called by his given name.” Rick frustratingly says, “That’s his full Italian name. He isn’t an abbreviation. He’s our son. ” Ella replies, “and look how this has all turned out.” Rick sighs, and Ella continues to stare out the window, not wanting to say anything else. “Hey, M.C.!?” His Dad shouts to Marco.

    Their son, Marco, who prefers to be called M.C., takes off his headphones and shouts, “What!?” Rick takes a deep breath and replies, “I want to talk.” Ella smirks while still looking out the window. Rick asks, “Are you excited to go to your new school? It’s safe, is what the principal told me over the phone, and there will be lots of opportunities to make new friends.” M.C. replies, “Yeah, sure. I won’t know anybody since Hayden is dead, right Dad? I looked up the school, and they seem like they’re all country type folk. I’m sure they’ll welcome me with open arms. I’m going to be the only city kid in the whole damn place.”

    Rick looks at his son through the rear view mirror and glances over at Ella. She has a tear coming down her cheek appearing upset. Rick puts his hand on his wife’s arm, but she pulls it away and leans towards the far side of the SUV, not wanting to be touched. M.C. puts his headphones back on to continue to listen to music while posting on social media. Rick puts his two hands on the steering wheel, shakes his head in dismay, and continues driving on the highway until he turns off at the exit for Pinewood Harbor.

    The new neighborhood is only a short distance from the highway, and there isn’t much traffic because of the timing of the weekend. They pass by their new town’s downtown area, driving by closed shops, fall foliage, and the harbor as they gaze out at their new surroundings. Rick continues driving them into an even more forested area and turns into their new neighborhood off the main road. The houses are large, with some having garages and boats sitting in the driveway. The fall leaves on the trees make it a colorful sight for the Napolitano’s as they’re not used to seeing such dense woods everywhere. The third last home from the end of their neighborhood road is theirs as they drive up to their new house and turn into its driveway.

    “Here we are, you two. What do you think?” asks Rick. Ella replies, “it’s nice.” M.C. takes his headphones off and is quiet. Rick says, “Let’s go and check it out.” They step out of their SUV and onto the rocky driveway. Rick and Ella walk up to the front door, and M.C. goes out to the road to take selfies for his social media. Rick says, “I already have the key,” as he takes it out of his pocket and unlocks the front door. He looks at Ella and smiles. She walks through the door and, while passing by Rick, gives him a soft squeeze on the shoulder. She sees the inside of their new home for the first time and is happily smiling. Rick follows her in and has a more cautious inspecting reaction to the house.

    They walk through the house to the backyard deck and meet M.C. who walked around the outside of the house. Rick says, “All of these woods will be nice and quiet for us.” Ella and M.C. look out at the forest as Ella replies, “it certainly is going to be different.” They all walk back into the house and scope out the bedrooms, bathrooms, and other rooms of the house. It’s very spacious, especially without their furniture, clothes, and bikes arriving yet because the moving truck is running late. Their doorbell suddenly chimes, startling them, so Rick quickly walks to the front door and opens it. In front of him is a middle-aged blonde woman in a blue shirt and jeans holding a pie with a smile on her face.

    “Hi, I’m Ms. Meyers. I live two houses away and wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood. I baked you this blueberry pie,” she says as she hands the baked pie in a ceramic dish to Rick. While he’s holding the pie, Rick replies, “Thank you. My name is Rick, or Mr. Napolitano. It’s very kind of you to bake a pie for us.” She blushes with an approving look and continues to talk. “The last pie I baked for new neighbors didn’t go so well. I’m glad you’re happy with it.” Rick asks, “can I ask why it didn’t go well?”

    Ms. Meyers says, “Well, at the end of our road, there’s a family that moved in recently. When I went over to greet them, they were not enthusiastic about seeing me with a gift. In the short time I was there, the McKenneys yelled at one another right in front of me. They didn’t want my pie, and their son almost tripped me down the stairs as I turned and left. All I know is they’re from New York, and we all know how city folk can be, right?” Rick looks down at the pie and says, “My wife, son, and I are actually from the city.” Ms. Meyers quickly replies, “Oh, that’s okay. I just meant generally speaking.” Ms. Meyers realizes she may have shared too much. “Well, I hope you enjoy my pie. If there’s anything you need, I’m two houses away with my daughter Darcy.” Ms. Meyers smiles at Rick as she turns away and leaves when Ella walks up to the front door area where Rick is still smiling.

    “What was that about?” Ella asks. Rick’s smile fades, and he casually says, “it’s one of our new neighbors, Ms. Meyers. She baked this blueberry pie for us.” Ella takes the pie from him. “That’s nice of her. Did she have anything to say?” Rick answers, “just about the other new neighbors at the end of our road being from the city like us.” Ella says, “Well, that’s good. Maybe we will have more in common with them than the locals.” Rick thinks about it and replies, “perhaps so.”

    The moving truck shows up a few minutes later, and for the rest of the afternoon and late evening, they unload and fill the house up with their belongings. Afterward, they have a late dinner of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chips and change into comfortable nighttime clothes. With only one more day until school and work for M.C. and Rick, they both go to bed early as Ella stays up job searching online. She finds a local department store that’s hiring for a women’s clothing and dressing room attendant position. What Ella likes about the job description is that the hours are afternoons and evenings. Also, it’s close to their neighborhood within biking distance. She decides to apply to the local department store online and sends her resume, hoping that she gets a call for an interview. Ella keeps looking for other opportunities in  the online job market around them, but she doesn’t see much around them to fit her experience and preferences. Before going to bed, Ella walks into a side room and rummages around for her sewing kit bag. She finds it and takes a few items out so she can get to a small zipper on the inside of the bag. Unzipping the compartment and looking around to see if the coast is clear, Ella reaches in and pulls out an envelope with a black bottle inside filled with oxycodone painkillers. She opens the bottle, shakes a few pills out into her hand, closes the bottle, puts it back into the bag, and zips the bag shut. Ella walks excitedly to the kitchen sink and grabs an empty glass. She fills it with water and swallows the capsules with a big gulp of water.

    Her physical problems in life have been pain in her back and insomnia. Doctors had only prescribed her avenues of using natural methods like melatonin for sleep and physical therapy, yet none of the methods had worked. She also didn’t want to bother Rick with how bad her sleeping issues had gotten, so she found an illicit drug dealer in the city who would hook her up with the painkillers. The drug dealer had been one of her customers that she traded with at her store, but that if she left, the deal would be over. Now, she only has enough leftover pills to last a little while and didn’t know anyone in Maine for a replacement. For tonight, Ella at least knows she’ll be comfortable and blissfully numb because she still has the pain-killer drugs that are fast-acting. Rick is deeply sleeping as Ella walks upstairs to their bedroom and stumbles into their large bed. She feels the effects of the pills. Partly smiling and feeling exhausted, she looks up at the ceiling as a tear begins to run down her cheek. She blacks out and starts to dream of being back in Boston and sitting on their other son’s empty bed. In the dream, Rick walks in and says with an echo, “You have to let Hayden go.” She mumbles, “I’m never letting Hayden go.” After repeating herself, she yells out in her dream, “Why would I let our son go, Rick!? Why would I ever let him go!?”

    In her dream, she then spins down into a black hole and is now standing outside their apartment building on the street, looking up with a trauma blanket wrapped around her shoulders. There are police officers, police cars, and an ambulance surrounding her. Ella feels the despair of the moment she had already lived. A Boston cop walks up to her slowly in the dream and says, “Whoever it was, they got away. We have all units searching the area. I’m sorry for your loss.” She nods her head up and down slowly in acknowledgment. Ella looks out at the entrance to their apartment building as a group of paramedics wheel a stretcher out with a filled black body bag on it. Ella cries out in her dream and falls into nothingness that ends the nightmare in her mind while she sleeps.

    The next morning, Rick is at his new job, moving into his office at the local bank branch of his company. It had been a rough morning at the house because he had to get M.C. out of bed and get both of them out the door in time. Ella slept through it all, frustrating Rick, but wanted her to get to sleep in. Rick sets up his family portraits on his desk when a coworker startles him with loud knocking at his office door. Rick asks, “Can I help you?” The coworker replies, “Sorry to interrupt, but you have someone up front who wants to meet with you.” Rick says, “That’s weird. I don’t have any clients yet. I will come and see who it is.” His coworker nods and walks away. Rick exits his office and walks up to the public area of the bank.

    A lone man in a suit is waiting in a chair, staring at him. Rick recognizes who it is, skips a step, and stumbles. He continues walking awkwardly towards the suited man and gulps his throat. Rick says, “Hi, my name is Mr. Napolitano. I can see you in my office. Right this way, Sir.” The man stares coldly at Rick and says, “Of course, Mr. Napolitano,” and follows him back to his office. Rick and the suited man enter his office, and he closes the door behind them.

    Sitting behind his desk with an angry man across from him, Rick is very worried. Little does his family know, he had been scheming with a group of thieves for many years, and it all came crashing down in Boston. He had started small, siphoning off tiny amounts from customer accounts, but his schemes got bigger by skimming the banks’ profits, creating false bank records, ghost accounts, altered balance sheets, and hacked work passwords and clearances. His large operation hadn’t been on any bank or law enforcement’s radar, so when Rick eventually wanted out, his partners strongly disagreed. When he decided to stop and get out, the group of thieves sent a warning message by attacking his apartment in the city. This is why he lost his son. It was a tragedy at their hands but partly due to his own decisions and failures. A guilt-filled Rick can barely look at the suited man who is angrily sitting in front of him.

    “I know that you’re no longer living in Boston,” says the suited man. Rick replies, “Then what the hell are you doing here!? Leave me and what’s left of my family alone.” He says, “it’s not up to me. It’s actually up to you.” Rick responds by yelling, “I’ve been out! I’m done!” The suited man pauses and replies, “we want the payments to continue to help fund our continued operation, and in return, you and your family will be granted safety. If you go to the authorities about us, you will never be safe. If you tell anyone about us, including your family, you will never be safe.”

    Rick looks directly at him and says, “My son is dead because of your bullshit lies! He tried to protect us from the thugs that were sent to send me a message like this. Well, guess what!? Message received. I’m done! Now get the hell out of my office!” The suited man stands up from sitting in the chair across from Rick’s desk. The man says, “I will ask you one more time before I leave. Are you with us, or are you out?” Rick stares at him in disbelief and says, “I’m out. Now get the hell out!” The suited man smirks. He points up at the ceiling and then points down to the floor while looking at Rick. “What comes up must come down, Mr. Napolitano,” he says while leaving his office and closing the door behind him. After being alone in his office quietly sweating for a minute, Rick snaps out of his somber stare and nervously checks his bank accounts on the computer screen at his desk. With shaking hands, his pulse is racing, but things appear in order. The stolen money from his earlier dealings with the thieves is still safely in its place. He breathes a sigh of relief and relaxes in his chair. Back at the Napolitano house, Ella gets a call for an online interview and accepts a working night shift from the local department store. Her first shift is immediately tonight. She’s excited and nervous to be part of a new community. That afternoon, Ella is sitting out on the porch waiting for M.C. to come home from school.

    The school bus is nearly empty as M.C. and his two neighbors are the last stop on the route. Besides being made fun of by Louie McKenney for sitting next to Darcy, M.C. had an enjoyable first day at his new school. The bus driver yells at Louie to quit running up and down the aisle of the moving bus. Darcy reassures M.C. that Louie is cool and is really the bad ass of the school and their neighborhood. The bus comes to a stop in front of their neighborhood. “Okay, last stop, kids, everybody out,” the bus driver says. The three teens get off the bus. Darcy’s mom is waiting for her in a car at the entrance to their neighborhood. Darcy tells M.C. she’s going into town with her mom and to have fun with Louie. She waves goodbye and gets in her mom’s car. They drive away, leaving M.C. with Louie to walk down the road together.

    Louie immediately says, “You think you’re a cool shit, don’t you?” M.C. doesn’t answer and continues to walk straight ahead. Louie continues talking, “You’re just another nerd, soft city boy.” M.C. doesn’t reply but feels nervous, wondering where this is going with Louie and why? Suddenly, Louie shoves M.C. pushing his body into his and walks both of them in a slanting direction. Louie says, “What’s wrong? Can’t walk straight?” As Louie is pushing and laughing, M.C. stops walking. M.C. replies, “I don’t mean to be any trouble to you, Louie. I think you’re cool and a bad ass,” as he echoes what Darcy had said earlier on the bus ride. He grabs M.C. and says, “Don’t try to get out of this, you nerd!” He throws M.C. off the side of the road and into the ditch below. At the bottom of the ditch on the ground, M.C. says, “What the hell, dude?”

    Louie laughs and feels powerful. M.C. dusts himself off and gets up. He doesn’t want to escalate things, so he puts on a fake laugh and replies, “You got me good, bro. You win.” M.C. puts his hands up in a comical way to show he’s given up in an attempt to get Louie to leave him alone for the rest of the walk. Louie yells, “How are you from Boston!? Just a pansy with no rizz! The girls told me you were simping hard during class! What a dork!” Louie stops shouting and walks away from M.C., who’s still in the ditch waiting for Louie to leave him alone. M.C. sighs in relief and sees Louie walking further away and not coming back. What an awful way to end the first day of school, M.C. thought to himself while getting up and walking home. Louie had emotionally and physically assaulted him, so now he has to figure out what to do about it going forward. A few minutes later, M.C. gets to his driveway as his Mom, Ella, is sitting on the porch. She waves to him and asks, “How was school?” M.C. feels a wave of emotion come over him and not knowing how to answer such an easy yet profound question because of what had just happened.

    M.C. answers, “Well, Mom, it was good for the most part, but Louie McKenney just bullied me into the ditch on our walk home just now.” He has tears in his eyes and continues talking. “He called me names and made fun of me. He’s just a mean dude. I don’t know what his problem is.” Ella gets up and walks over to hug him. She replies, “I’m sorry this happened to you,” in empathy with his distress. “Wherever we go, there will always be bullies,” quietly answers Ella. “We will talk about it with your father and figure out what to do about this bully, okay?” M.C. feels reassured but still upset. He replies, “Okay,” but is skeptical that his parents can help resolve it without making things worse. His Mom says, “You should get a cold drink and rest. It’s going to be okay.” He nods and walks towards the door. She quickly adds, “I got a new job up the street, and I start working later tonight. Just so you know.” M.C. replies, “congrats,” with a quick smile at his Mom. She smiles back yet is worried about her son’s well-being.

    Later that evening, Rick is home from work, and Ella tells him about M.C.’s experiences with the McKenney boy on a walk home from the bus. It makes Rick furious. He tells Ella he’s going to have a talk with the boy’s parents to put an end to the bullying. After he asks M.C. about the incident, Rick walks over to the McKenney house and knocks on their door. The McKenney father opens it and asks, “What do you want?” Rick quickly answers, “for your boy to leave my boy alone.” Mr. McKenney replies, “Boys will be boys,” and starts to shut the door on Rick. “If your boy continues to physically touch or emotionally abuse my son, I will go to the police,” Rick replies. “You do that, champ,” the McKenney father answers. “Now screw off and get off my property,” and he slams the door in Rick’s face. He shakes his head, turns around, and walks back home thinking to himself, “What awful neighbors.”

    Rick is back at the house and talking to Ella about what happened, but they don’t know what more they can do about the bullying. Later that night, at 8 o’clock, Ella leaves their home for her first night shift at the department store. She takes the SUV because Rick won’t need it until the next morning. M.C. is in his room, quietly playing video games, listening to music with headphones on, and not doing his homework. Rick is on the couch relaxing and watching TV when there are a few loud knocks at their door.

    Rick gets up slowly and walks to the front door. He peers out the side window to see who it is first. He’s paranoid about the thieves from the city, so he has a spray can of mace in a nearby drawer. He told his family that the mace spray is there for any of them to use if needed for burglars, but it’s really for self-defense against his shady former associates. He doesn’t see anyone at the door, so he takes out the can of mace from the drawer and opens the front door. With the door open, he holds the can out, and from a side bush, a person jumps out wearing a black costume and a black hat. The woman yells, “Boo!” Rick yelps in surprise and presses down on the can of mace. It sprays out at the unknown woman. Shortly after, he realizes it’s just a woman in a witch costume, but the mace has already left its mark.

    “Jeez, Rick! It’s just me, Ms. Meyers. You didn’t have to spray me with mace,” she explains in a pained tone. “I’m so sorry,” Rick says. M.C. hears the commotion and runs downstairs to see what had happened. His Dad is apologizing to Ms. Meyers, and offers that she comes inside to wash it off. She obliges and explains to Rick that she came over to invite them to a Halloween party that’s coming up soon. She thought it would be funny to dress up in a costume and ask if they wanted to go. Rick tells M.C. that things are safe and that he can go back upstairs and study. M.C. replies, “Yeah, I gotta get back to those books.” As Rick is too involved with helping Ms. Meyers to read into or care what M.C. is actually doing. M.C. walks back upstairs and closes the door to his room to get back to the level that he’s on in a video game.

    In the downstairs bathroom, Ms. Meyers fumbles around with wet washcloths and paper towels. She comes out of the bathroom even more disheveled, wet, and hurt from a small amount of mace that is still stinging her face. Rick offers for her to sit down on the couch to rest. Ms. Meyers agrees and happily sits on the couch. She asks what he was watching on TV. Rick confesses he was channel surfing and not watching anything in particular.  He asks her if she has any ideas. Ms. Meyers asks, “Have you seen the new spy show?” Rick says, “No, I haven’t heard of any new spy show.” Ms. Meyers says, “we’re watching it right now.” Rick laughs and replies, “okay.” They find the show on a streaming service  and begin to watch it together on the couch.

Eight hours later

    Ella gets home from work and walks into their home. She sees Rick and Ms. Meyers sleeping on the couch together. Ms. Meyers is in a disheveled Halloween witch costume, and her makeup is smeared all over her face. Ella wakes them up from being noisily distraught and upset. They both immediately go into explanation mode as M.C. walks down the stairs. They insist it’s all a big misunderstanding and even M.C. corroborates every question Ella has for them. Ms. Meyers then awkwardly leaves while apologizing that ends the weird evening.

    Rick and M.C. leave for work and school the next morning, so Ella is free to go into her sewing bag and grab her pain-killer pills. She takes several pills to try to numb the stress and worries of life and to try to quiet her sadness. Shortly after, she stumbles upstairs and passes out in their bed from the drugs. Later that afternoon, M.C.’s walk home from school is uneventful because Darcy is there, so Louie is behaving more for a pleasant change. Darcy asks M.C. if wants to ride their bikes into town, and he happily agrees. Following their walks home, they get their bikes out at their houses, meet back up, and leave their neighborhood together.

    Louie is skateboarding alone around the neighborhood as a blacked out SUV slowly drives into the subdivision. He watches it pulling into the Napolitano driveway. He sees two big men in suits, wearing sunglasses, getting out of the SUV with one of them holding a gas can. They don’t see him because he’s at a distant corner on the road. Louie runs up to the edge of the woods on the roadside, watching them closely. One suited man walks to the front door and doesn’t knock or do anything but look around. The other suited man, carrying a jug of gas, walks to the corner of the house and douses the wall with gas. Louie laughs and mumbles, “Holy shit.” The suited man pulls out a lighter and ignites the house on fire. He signals for the other suited man to leave with him. They return to their SUV and drive away.

    Louie can’t believe what he just saw. Once the SUV is out of sight, he runs up to the corner of the house that’s now engulfed in flames and starts yelling, jumping around, spinning, and not knowing what to do. Next door, Ms. Meyers peers out the window upon hearing the commotion. She sees that the Napolitano house is on fire and runs out the door with her cell phone in hand. She films the McKenney boy in front of the flames that are now climbing up the side of the house, with thick smoke blinding the windows and doors, as she yells at Louie in anger. He sees Ms. Meyers and bolts away towards his house. She stops recording and calls the local emergency number and pleads to the responders to send help.

Two hours later

    Rick is driving home from work and turns into their neighborhood. He sees fire trucks and Ms. Meyers out on the road. He looks at where his house once stood, and it’s a charred mess of rubble. He frantically gets out and shouts to Ms. Meyers about where his family is. She rushes to explain that M.C. wasn’t in the house because he’s still out riding bikes with Darcy. However, Ella was in the house and didn’t make it out alive. Rick falls to his knees in anguish, putting his arms over his head, yelling, “My wife is gone. My boy and now my wife. They’re gone!”

    He goes from feeling sadness to anger. He gets up and asks Ms. Meyers, “What happened!? Did you see who did this!? Did you see an SUV or suited men earlier before this happened!?” Ms. Meyers replies, “no, I didn’t see anyone or any car come down the road, but I did see the McKenney boy in front of the flames, and I took a video of it on my phone. He ran away once I spotted him.” She takes her cell phone out and shows Rick the video she recorded earlier. Rick is livid watching it. M.C. and Darcy come up with their bikes and are in horror of what they see. M.C. asks, “What happened, Dad? Where’s Mom? Our house is gone!” Rick yells, “Your Mom is dead! And it looks like that damn McKenney boy did it!”

    Rick storms away, walking towards the McKenney house down the road. M.C. yells, “Dad! Wait! We don’t know what happened.” Ms. Meyers tells M.C. that she saw Louie in front of their house during the fire and shows him the proof of it on her phone. Darcy watches it too and is in shock that Louie would do something this evil. Rick walks up to the front door of the McKenney house, and before he knocks, the door swings open with Mr. McKenney aiming his shotgun at him.

    “No sudden movements,” Mr. McKenney orders. Rick puts up his hands but yells, “Your son is a murderer and he’s going to prison forever!” M.C. and Darcy jogged to a spot close by on the road in front of the McKenney house. Rick continues shouting, “Where is he hiding!? Where’s your arsonist murderer son!? There’s no way you’ll ever see him again! Your life with him is over!” In a rage of anger, Mr. McKenney fires his shotgun, hitting Rick in the head and knocking him to the ground as the loud bang reverberates out onto the road where M.C. and Darcy are standing in shock. M.C. yells in distress from seeing his dad being shot. Louie runs out from behind his father as Mr. McKenney yells out, “Get on your bike and get them! Don’t let them get away!” He reloads his gun and aims at the two teens who realize they need to run. Mr. McKenney shoots and misses while they’re running away. Louie gets on his bike to go after them as M.C. and Darcy run to warn Ms. Meyers and the first responders.

    Two police cruisers with their lights and sirens blaring drive by M.C. and Darcy. They stop in front of Mr. McKenney’s driveway and get out of their cruisers. The cops pull out their pistols and yell at Mr. McKenney to give up and put his shotgun down. At the edge of their garage and the woods, Louie watches the standoff. Mr. McKenney yells, “You’re not getting anything out of me or my family!” He turns the shotgun on himself and fires it up through his neck and head, killing himself. Louie takes off on his bike in a blind rage just having seen his father die. He bikes away from the police and is going after M.C. and Darcy, whom he blames for everything. M.C. and Darcy made it to the front of M.C.’s driveway, and Ms. Meyers is in a panic. She hugs Darcy and asks what happened. Darcy tries to explain things but is trembling and scared. M.C. tells them to go into their house and stay inside with the doors locked until things are safe. The firefighters had heard the gunshots and were in their vehicles. Darcy and her mom run into their house while M.C. spots Louie aggressively pedaling on his bike coming towards him.

    M.C. gets back on his bike and pedals fast towards the main road. He doesn’t look back as Louie chases him on his own bike. Moving at a high speed on his bike, M.C. turns out of their neighborhood through traffic on the main road. It’s in the middle of the evening during rush hour. M.C. dodges several vehicles when crossing the road. Louie follows him by also crossing the road while yelling profanities at him. M.C. looks back while biking away from their neighborhood road as a car collides with Louie on his bike. There’s a loud car horn and metallic bangs at the intersection of their neighborhood and main road as a car crashes into Louie and his bike. M.C. turns back to look ahead as police cars drive in the opposite direction with lights and sirens blaring, heading towards the crash. He continues to pedal his bike further and further away. A mile later, M.C. is still pedaling at a fast pace, while passing vehicles’ high beams briefly blind him and other cars loudly pass by in the opposite direction. Some cars beep and whoosh around him. He’s pedaling hard and swerving erratically, not fully realizing the risks to his life. He eventually reaches the town’s border and heads north on Route 1.

    M.C. is still in a panic, but his adrenaline keeps him going faster and further away. He hasn’t realized in his mind that no one is chasing him anymore. He travels another long hour of solitude heading north with more passing vehicles and their flashing lights. One angry driver shouts, “Get off the road!” It startles M.C. as the car drives away. He keeps pedaling on his bike until he reaches a gas station that’s the only business in the vast forest around him. Pulling in behind the station in a park area with picnic tables, M.C. gently falls off his bike. He lays there for a while. Then, M.C. slowly gets up off the ground, crawls over to a picnic table, and passes out on it from exhaustion.

    The next morning, M.C. wakes up on the picnic table but sees that his bike is gone. He’s groggy yet manages to get off the table and onto his feet. He walks around the gas station and goes into a side bathroom to wash up and drink water from a faucet by cupping his hands. He turns off the faucet and leaves the bathroom. Then, M.C. walks from the side of the building to the front where there is an old red pickup truck at a gas pump. An older gentleman with a white beard, wearing overalls, an unbuttoned flannel coat, and a camouflage ballcap is quietly pumping gas into the truck.

    M.C. walks up and asks, “Excuse me, mister, can I get a ride to wherever you’re heading?” The old man looks up at M.C. and says, “Of course you can, young fella. I’m on my way to Bucksport, as long as you don’t mind sitting in the truck bed. My two dogs would rip you to pieces if you sat in the cabin with us. I’m only going as far as the town, so then you’ll have to skedaddle onward by yourself before I go home to the missus. My wife doesn’t like it when I give lifts to strangers, even if they’re young fellas like yourself.”

    M.C. nods okay and thanks the old-bearded man. He gets in the back of the pickup truck bed and sits up against the rearview window. Two big brown dogs are staring at him through the window as the old man finishes filling up. He tells M.C. it’s going to be a couple of hours on the road to get to Bucksport, so if he needs him to stop at any time, just knock on the window. A few hours after riding in the back of the pickup truck, they pull into a grocery store parking lot in the town of Bucksport. The old man rolls his window down as M.C. exits the truck bed. M.C. walks up and says, “Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.” The old gentleman, along with his two dogs, are looking at M.C. as the old man smiles and says, “Whether you’re coming or going, life up here will toughen you up. Good luck, kid.” He waves a salute and slowly drives away. M.C. waves with a goodbye. He then looks down in despair and walks back to the main road to continue his trek to nowhere.

Penobscot Narrows Bridge near Bucksport, Maine

    M.C. is walking across a bridge, not knowing where he is or what he’s doing. He walks near the high-up middle part with a large river below. Stopping to look at an old fort, M.C. also sees a docked naval ship on the opposite bank and a scenic view of the river, hills, fields, farms, and a town. He pauses to lean on the side railing, looking out at the view, feeling heaviness in his heart and with a profound sadness.

    “Hey, kid,” a loud voice from across the bridge in the opposite lane of the road where he’s standing is heard by M.C. He looks around to see an older man and a teenager in a parked bronze pickup truck with the side window down with the man’s arm resting on the open window side. “Are you Marco Napolitano?” M.C., in shock, mumbles in a hoarse, cracked voice, “yeah?” He then asks, “You know my name?” The older gentleman in the driver’s seat replies, “well, yeah. The whole state of Maine knows you from the news this morning, and everyone is looking for you from an Amber Alert. My son next to me has a photo of you on his phone and thought it could be you as we approached you up here on this bridge.” He looks away from talking to M.C. and to his son in the passenger seat, saying, “looks like you were right. Call the State Police number.” He then looks back at M.C. and continues talking to him. “Your family must be very worried. I know I would be.” M.C. shouts, “I have no more family! They’re dead!” He sees the teenager in the passenger seat with his phone up to his ear, talking and listening into it. “Hold on, Marco,” the gentleman says to M.C. He is listening to his son explain something to him while he has the phone to his ear. The gentleman looks out at M.C. again and relays what the police had told his son over the phone: “The Meyers’ are looking for you and want you to know you have a place with them. They also say they intend to move away from where you all have been living.” Once he hears this, M.C. sits down in relief. He realizes Darcy and her mom are okay and that Ms. Meyers is offering to help and take care of him. M.C. is overwhelmed and begins to cry out with his head down while sitting on the bridge, releasing his tension, fear, and anger inside of him. While stepping out of the truck, the gentleman says, “An ambulance and help is on the way. You’re safe now, kid.” He walks up to M.C. and crouches down near him, reassuring him it will be alright, staying with the exhausted teen until the paramedics and police arrive. M.C. is safe and found after what he’d gone through the night before. After some time at a local hospital, he reunites with the Meyers and goes on to live a peaceful life with them while being freed of the dysfunction of his past, having survived the suburban escape.

The End